The US presidential election, which was held on Tuesday, November 5, ended with former President Donald Trump winning a clear and overwhelming victory over his rival, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, in an amazing way.

While Trump and his supporters celebrate the euphoria of victory, and the Democrats lick their wounds after losing the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, and wander the earth as if an earthquake threw them into the abyss, and before they start pointing fingers at each other for the reasons for this dizzying loss, it is necessary to point out a set of facts.

First, former President Trump pulled off an extraordinary comeback early Wednesday morning, becoming the first president to win two nonconsecutive terms since the 1888 election, when the 22nd president, Grover Cleveland, won the election after losing in 1884, also becoming the 24th president in an unprecedented battle for the White House. As observers await final results from Michigan, Nevada and Arizona (which Trump won), he has so far received 277 electoral votes, putting him in the White House, compared to Harris’s 224. By the end of Wednesday, he is projected to have 314 electoral votes, giving him a landslide victory.

Second, the 45th president’s political career appeared to be over after he sought to overturn his 2020 election defeat and galvanized his supporters to march on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, an event that led to riots, the evacuation of Congress, and his impeachment. Since that event, Trump has become the first president ever to be impeached twice; has been charged in four separate criminal cases; has been found liable for sexual assault in a civil case; and has been convicted in a criminal court of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Third, Trump was backed by a fiercely loyal base of support — most of whom believed his narrative that he was the unfair victim of a corrupt political, legal, and media establishment.

"We overcame obstacles that no one thought were possible," Trump told supporters during his victory speech in West Palm Beach, Florida, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, calling his win "a tremendous victory for the American people."

Fourth, Trump capitalized on public dissatisfaction with President Biden’s record. Things went wrong early for Harris. The writing was on the wall early in the evening for Harris. The first warning sign was a very early call that Trump would win Florida. The result itself wasn’t a shock — but the fact that Trump won by nearly double the 6-point margin the polling average had predicted was ominous for the Democratic nominee.

The pro-Trump pattern continued for most of the night, with supposedly safe Democratic states like Virginia and even New Jersey hanging in the balance for uncomfortable lengths of time for Harris's team, while Trump jumped to an early lead in every swing state.

Fifth, the big demographic surprise that worked in Trump’s favor was the huge swing among Latino men to Trump. Much of the media coverage before Election Day focused on whether Trump would make gains among black voters, especially black men, or among younger voters. In fact, the changes within these demographic groups were modest—at least according to current polls, which may change somewhat as new data is added. But there was a real shock. Latino men swung toward Trump by a staggering margin, according to CNN exit polls. Especially since in 2020, polls showed that Latino men voted for Biden over Trump by a 23-point margin, 59% to 36%.

Trump did not lose sight of the support of these diverse ethnic groups, including Arab and Muslim voters who voted for him, saying: “They came from all over: union and non-union, African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, Muslim Americans. We had everyone and it was beautiful. It was a historic realignment that united citizens of all backgrounds around a common core of common sense.”

Sixth, there is no doubt that Trump benefited from the factor of increased sympathy for him after the first assassination attempt he was subjected to, on July 13, 2024, in the state of Pennsylvania, which almost killed him, which gave his campaign additional momentum, which was strengthened after the second (alleged) attempt on September 29.

How Harris Lost:

First, the fact is that Harris inherited a campaign from Joe Biden on July 21 that seemed to be on the wane, given the president’s unpopularity and inability to deliver a compelling message to Americans (on top of his disastrous debate performance on June 27). After Democrats forcibly removed Biden from the race and chose Harris, she quickly bolstered her moribund party, mobilizing women, electrifying TikTok and Instagram creators with supportive memes, and raising staggering sums from donors. But Momentum consultants insisted that the momentum she built had not materialized. She had not been able to adequately bury Biden’s ghost, severely hampering her ability to convince voters that her candidacy was the one to turn the page.

Second, experts say, it happened simply because Harris refused to break completely with the past four years when voters indicated that was what they wanted. Worse, she hesitated to create any distinction between herself and her boss on Biden’s biggest weakness—his handling of the economy—or to specify any specific way her presidency would differ from his other than appointing a Republican to her Cabinet.

In fact, there was no clear reason Harris should bear the brunt of the blame, with aides pointing to how she had swung the battleground numbers in her favor and maintained her advantage over Trump, and the widespread sense that Biden and the broader anti-incumbent sentiment had put her in a difficult, if impossible, position. “We ran the best campaign we could have, given that Joe Biden was president,” one Harris aide complained to Politico. “Joe Biden is the only reason Kamala Harris and the Democrats lost tonight.” Another Harris aide told Politico that it was clear Biden should have come out earlier than July 21, allowing Democrats to hold a primary they believed Harris would have won.

Republican candidate Donald Trump has undoubtedly pulled off the greatest political comeback in modern U.S. history in Tuesday’s election, winning enough electoral votes to defeat Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and return to the White House for a second term. Trump declared victory in a speech from Florida, saying he was the mastermind behind “the greatest political movement ever” and pledging to help the country heal, after campaigning on a promise of “revenge” on his political enemies.

Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, experts say, would mark the end of a period of trouble for the Republican candidate, who refused to concede defeat four years ago. That was followed by a violent attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters, four criminal indictments, a felony conviction on 91 counts, a $354 million judgment in a civil case against him and his businesses, another jury finding him liable for sexual assault and defamation, and the legal cases pending against him likely to be (effectively) over or severely disrupted.

On this issue, we must return to what Trump said after the verdicts against him were issued: “The real verdict will come on November 5th, by the people.” Indeed, the verdict was in his favor. “We have overcome obstacles that no one thought possible,” Trump told a crowd of supporters gathered at the convention center near his Mar-a-Lago resort. After thanking the voters, he said that he would not rest until he achieved a “golden age” for America.

Finally, his campaign strategy has mostly avoided the mainstream press, focusing instead on appealing to young and disaffected minority voters through high-profile appearances on popular podcasts, backed by influencers who have supplanted traditional media among these voters. As the night wore on Tuesday, it became clear that the high-stakes strategy was paying off. Trump outperformed his 2020 results all over the map, while Harris underperformed Biden in key states and among key voting blocs, including Latinos and white men.